The Violet Fairy Book, page 109 by Andrew Lang
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s wife. 'A kettle full of gold and silver, do you call that nonsense?'
'You are not in your right mind, dear wife. Sir, I beg your pardon. Ask her how it all happened, and if she convinces you I'll pay for it with my life.'
'This is how it all happened, Mr. Secretary,' cried the wife. 'We were driving through the forest, and we saw a pike up in the top of a tree----'
'What, a PIKE?' shouted the secretary. 'Do you think you may joke with me, pray?'
'Indeed, I'm not joking, Mr. Secretary! I'm speaking the bare truth.'
'Now you see, gentlemen,' said her husband, 'how far you can trust her, when she chatters like this.'
'Chatter, indeed? I!! Perhaps you have forgotten, too, how we found a live hare in the river?'
Everyone roared with laughter; even the secretary smiled and stroked his beard, and the man said:
'Come, come, wife, everyone is laughing at you. You see for yourself, gentlemen, how far you can believe her.'
'Yes, indeed,' said the village elders, 'it is certainly the first time we have heard that hares thrive in the water or fish among the tree tops.'
The secretary could make nothing of it all, and drove back to the town. The old woman was so laughed at that she had to hold her tongue and obey her husband ever after, and the man bought wares with part of the treasure and moved into the town, where he opened a shop, and prospered, and spent the rest of his days in peace.
TWO IN A SACK
What a life that poor man led with his wife, to be sure! Not a day passed without her scolding him and calling him names, and indeed sometimes she would take the broom from behind the stove and beat him with it. He had no peace or comfort at all, and really hardly knew how to bear it.
One day, when his wife had been particularly unkind and had beaten him black and blue, he strolled slowly into the fields, and as he could not endure to be idle he spread out his nets.
What kind of bird do you think he caught in his net? He caught a